The answer is to use Amazon Aurora Global Database for replication to the DR region, pre-provision standby instances in the DR region, and configure Route 53 health checks with failover routing. Aurora Global Database is the correct foundation because it provides cross-region replication with an RPO of typically one second and failover in under one minute, directly meeting the 15-minute RTO and 1-minute RPO requirements. Pre-provisioning standby instances ensures compute capacity is available immediately after failover, avoiding cold-start delays, while Route 53 health checks enable automatic DNS failover to the DR region. On the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional SAP-C02 exam, this question tests your ability to distinguish between Aurora features: a common trap is choosing snapshot restore (too slow) or cross-region read replicas (which require manual promotion and break the RTO). A useful memory tip is "Global for speed, pre-provision for capacity, Route 53 for automation"—the three pillars of a sub-15-minute DR plan.
SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question
This SAP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of design for new solutions. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company is designing a multi-region disaster recovery solution for a critical application running on Amazon EC2. The application uses an Amazon Aurora MySQL database. The RTO is 15 minutes and RPO is 1 minute. Which THREE steps should the solutions architect take to meet these requirements?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Pre-provision EC2 instances in the DR region with the application code and configuration.
Options B, D, and E are correct. Aurora Global Database provides replication with RPO of seconds and failover in minutes. Pre-provisioning standby instances in the DR region ensures capacity. Using Route 53 health checks with failover routing allows automatic DNS failover. Option A is incorrect because restoring from snapshots takes longer than 15 minutes. Option C is incorrect because cross-region read replicas do not automatically failover; manual promotion required.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✓
Pre-provision EC2 instances in the DR region with the application code and configuration.
Why this is correct
Ensures compute capacity is ready for failover.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✓
Use Route 53 health checks with failover routing policy to direct traffic to the DR region.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Configure a cross-region read replica in the DR region and promote it during failover.
Why it's wrong here
Promoting a read replica takes longer than 15 minutes.
✗
Take frequent snapshots of the Aurora cluster and copy them to the DR region.
Why it's wrong here
Snapshot restore takes too long (more than 15 minutes).
✓
Use Amazon Aurora Global Database for replication to the DR region.
Why this is correct
Aurora Global Database provides low-latency replication and fast failover.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.
TExam Day Tips
→Underline the problem statement mentally.
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which SAP-C02 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
Design for New Solutions — This question tests Design for New Solutions — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Pre-provision EC2 instances in the DR region with the application code and configuration. — Options B, D, and E are correct. Aurora Global Database provides replication with RPO of seconds and failover in minutes. Pre-provisioning standby instances in the DR region ensures capacity. Using Route 53 health checks with failover routing allows automatic DNS failover. Option A is incorrect because restoring from snapshots takes longer than 15 minutes. Option C is incorrect because cross-region read replicas do not automatically failover; manual promotion required.
What should I do if I get this SAP-C02 question wrong?
Identify which SAP-C02 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A company is designing a new multi-region disaster recovery solution for a critical application running on AWS. The primary region is us-east-1. The application uses Amazon RDS for MySQL with Multi-AZ, and runs on EC2 instances behind an ALB. The RPO must be less than 5 minutes, and RTO less than 30 minutes. The company wants to minimize costs when the DR solution is not in use. Which solution should a Solutions Architect recommend?
hard
A.Use RDS MySQL with cross-Region read replicas in us-west-2. Use a hot standby EC2 environment with a single instance. Use Route 53 failover routing.
B.Back up RDS MySQL to S3 using automated snapshots and copy them to us-west-2. Use EC2 instances with S3-mounted volumes to serve traffic from the backup.
C.Use RDS MySQL with Multi-AZ in us-east-1 and a second Multi-AZ deployment in us-west-2. Keep EC2 instances running in us-west-2 behind an ALB with cross-Region load balancing.
✓ D.Set up an RDS MySQL cross-Region read replica in us-west-2. Keep a standby EC2 environment with Auto Scaling configured to scale from 0 to minimum instances using a CloudWatch alarm on health checks. Use Route 53 failover routing to switch DNS to us-west-2.
Why D: Option A is correct because RDS cross-Region replication provides RPO of seconds, and using a standby EC2 environment with Auto Scaling configured for minimum zero instances (scaling based on DNS or health checks) minimizes cost. Option B is wrong because Multi-AZ does not provide cross-Region failover. Option C is wrong because read replicas are for read scaling, not DR failover, and cannot be promoted quickly. Option D is wrong because S3 is not a database; this doesn't meet RPO/RTO.
Last reviewed: Jun 20, 2026
Question Discussion
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This SAP-C02 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Amazon Web Services certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the SAP-C02 exam.
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